Developing Awareness

April 3, 2016 by Kin

I will talk about a most significant attribute that will make a huge impact on a person’s development, change his behaviors, and allow him to see the world differently, IMHO. THAT attribute is awareness.

This awareness does not just involve paying attention to things. It has to begin with open mindedness. Because on top of observance, we have to think critically and understand, to understand the environment around us, to understand the people we interact with, to understand the different events happening… so on and so forth. If your mind is close, you only hold on to what you believe already and new observance/thoughts/ideas will not be able to enter and stay in your consciousness.

Amont those, we have to understand ourselves most importantly. This goes hand in hand with the saying that “We are our own worst enemy” and ““We should know our enemies”. Therefore, we need to know (be aware) of ourselves, and to develop ourselves, the first step shall be paying attention to ourselves, our minds, our body, our emotions. When we know ourselves, we then know which part of ourselves need improvement, and also know how to act accordingly everyday.

Beyond that, our awareness should also apply to people around us. By being aware and paying attention with an open mind, we can come to understand other people better. Hence, we will also be able to communicate better. There are also events around us we should be aware of, to understand the flow of the world, how things work in each system (by system, it could mean school, company, family…)

I have only scratch the surface of this topic, but the rest is best grasp by personal experience. Raising awareness will allow better attention to ourselves and our surroundings and then absorb and learn. It is not something to adopt in one day, and a certain mindfulness is required to learn awareness. Better way to say it is that we make awareness our habits, an integral part of us just like breathing, eating, and sleeping.